A Joint Venture Looks Promising

January 20, 1991|The Morning Call

Lehigh and Northampton counties are for all intents and purposes one economic unit. Governmentally, though, they are a Balkanized hodgepodge. But one major effort to lower the political borders appears to be taking shape. More power to it.

Every year, both governments channel more money into meeting human needs, and yet, more is needed. Because the local and state economies are in a recession, the prospect of continuing to increase spending for human services is dim. New approaches are needed. With the endorsement of both county executives, human services leaders from the two counties will meet next month to seek ways to merge resources and energy in order to provide more and better services -- and to save money.

It might be possible, for instance, for the two counties to jointly operate a needed service. One possibility is a drug and alcohol treatment center for juveniles. Northampton County human services Director John Stoffa and George Sacarakis, his Lehigh County counterpart, are enthusiastic about this idea. Because it would be innovative, it could attract more state and federal aid.

Both county departments purchase goods and services separately, sometimes from the same vendor. Unified purchasing and negotiating are other possibilities for saving money.

It's been left unsaid so far, but another benefit of a merger would be opportunities to reduce the size of the bureaucracy that runs the two departments. Lehigh and Northampton now employ a total of 465 persons. Certain jobs, such as caseworkers, always will be needed, but there would be duplication of other responsibilities, and eliminating them would be a sizable efficiency.

The difficulty human services departments have in balancing budgets always is compelling because just about every spending item that is cut results in more misery for a child, someone who is ill, or an older person. No money tree is available, but a joint approach to solving human problems may be the next-best thing.